


Must love dogs

by Nival_Vixen



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Complete, Derek Hale & Stiles Stilinski Friendship, Derek Hale and Stiles Stilinski as Children, Dogs, Eventual Fluff, Eventual Romance, Fluff and Angst, Light Angst, M/M, POV Stiles, Scott McCall & Stiles Stilinski Friendship, Slow Build Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Stiles-centric, Stilinski Family Feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-20
Updated: 2014-07-20
Packaged: 2018-02-09 16:11:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1989351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nival_Vixen/pseuds/Nival_Vixen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles changed his name after his mother died. Derek, one of his childhood friends, kept calling him by his real name anyway, and Stiles couldn't bring himself to correct him.</p>
<p>After the Hale fire, Derek went to New York, and they don't see each other for another six years until Derek comes back to Beacon Hills. Derek doesn't seem to remember Stiles.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Must love dogs

Zbigniew Stilinski was six years old when his mother took his last breath. The next day, Zbigniew took his last breath, and Stiles was born instead. Later that year, Scott McCall and his parents moved to Beacon Hills, and after a somewhat disastrous introduction in the school playground, Scott met Stiles, and the moniker stuck. Children who had known Stiles for all of his life slowly stopped calling him by his name, Scott looking at them curiously when they stumbled between  _Zb_ -Stiles, but Stiles was the only name he'd ever known the boy by, and if Stiles had his way, the only one he'd ever know.

Only his mother had been able to pronounce his name correctly, fluently, and effortlessly, even his father taking a moment to step through the syllables since he was so used to calling him 'kid' or other terms of endearment. The last time he'd called him Zbigniew was on the day of his mother's funeral, and Stiles had refused to respond, telling him as firmly as a distraught six year old could that he was Stiles now. John nodded, and picked his son up carefully, letting Stiles cry fat tears against his shoulder as he carried him back to the car and home.

Derek was one of Stiles' only older friends; they'd met at the park when Zbigniew was five years old and contemplating the argument he'd need to convince his parents to buy him a dog (they said no) and Derek had a golden-eyed puppy that licked him all over. After Claudia's funeral and Stiles' change of name, Derek was the only one that still called him Zbigniew (sometimes Zbee when he was playful and friendly) with such a seriousness to his voice that Stiles couldn't bear to tell him to call him Stiles instead. Stiles made sure that Scott and Derek didn't meet, because he didn't want Derek to call him Zbigniew in front of Scott, and he didn't really want to share Scott with Derek either; Derek was his friend first, and the only older friend he had that didn't treat him like a baby.

Derek stopped going to the park eventually, the puppy old enough to run around without a leash, apparently, and while Stiles would always brighten up whenever he saw Derek in the town, they rarely spoke again. Stiles felt miserable about it for days because he'd liked talking to Derek; Derek actually liked and understood about comic book heroes and  _Star Wars_ , and Scott didn't read comics and hadn't seen  _Star Wars_  either! A few years later, Stiles' stomach dropped out from under him when he heard about the Hale fire, and he couldn't eat dinner, even though it was his favourite curly fries and burger meal. Derek left town with Laura that night, and Stiles went to sleep wondering if Derek would change his name too.

By the time Stiles was sixteen, it was as if no one in town remembered his real name anymore, and that's the way he liked it. Then Scott got bitten by a damn werewolf and Derek Hale showed up. Stiles recognised Derek immediately, even though it had been a good six years since he'd seen him last. Derek had grown into his features, eyebrows and all, but he didn't seem to remember Stiles at all. Stiles told himself that it didn't matter, that Derek had obviously forgotten about Beacon Hills entirely while he was away in New York, and who could blame him? Stiles cared though, so much, too much, and hated that he did. Derek was the only one that had remembered his name when he was lost and flailing and trying to become someone else because the person he'd been had felt too much pain, and he couldn't be that person anymore. And now, not even Derek remembered him either. Stiles tossed and turned all night and felt as though he was losing himself all over again.

One day, long after the kanima, Alpha pack, Darach, nogitsune, the Benefactor were defeated and driven out of town, Stiles found himself at the park again. He had his own dog now, old enough to adopt one for himself from the pound, and Ripley was the best dog a guy could ask for (she was named for Ripley from  _Alien_  because Derek had named his two dogs  _Obi_  and  _Wan_ , and he'd stolen Stiles' idea,  _damn him!_ ). She was a loyal friend and a fierce guard dog, which came in handy with the amount of supernatural crap that was still happening in Beacon Hills. Not to mention the whole darkness around his heart thing was still there, and Rip helped lighten that for him. It was hard to hear the dark calling to him when he had someone that loved him so unconditionally. Rip bounded over to him, tongue lolling out of her mouth happily, and licked his face all over. He wiped his face on his sleeve with a laugh, then started to scratch Ripley behind the ears.

"First time I met you, Cora did the same thing to you," Derek murmured, grinning a little.

" _Cora?_  You mean you were walking  _your sister_  at the park?" Stiles asked, hands stilling against Rip's head and she let out a whine, licking at his palm until he resumed his scratching.

"She couldn't control her shift," he replied, shrugging.

Stiles shook his head in disbelief, then he stopped and looked over at Derek with a frown. "You remember?"

"Yeah. Took a while because you'd grown so much, and  _Stiles_ , really?" Derek asked, rolling his eyes.

"Shut up, it's all I had after Mum died."

Derek just nodded as if he understood, and Stiles felt the darkness around his heart lighten even more because if anyone understood it would be Derek. He grinned a little and pulled a tennis ball out of his pocket, holding it up as Ripley sat up straight and watched him intently.

"You want the ball, Rip? Do you? Go on, go get it," Stiles called, pulling his arm back and letting the ball fly.

Rip took after it like a shot, and Stiles turned on the park bench to look at Derek properly.

"What is it?" Derek asked, barely glancing away from where Rip was bounding after the ball like a new pup.

"You're the only one that knows," Stiles admitted quietly.

That made Derek look over at him properly, and his frown gave way to understanding. He tugged Stiles over so that he was sitting right next to him, and wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

"Not going to forget again, Zbee," Derek promised, just as quiet, but no less convincing and serious as he had been as a child.

Odd as it sounded, Stiles believed him, and more than that, it felt like his entire life had just slotted into place. Stiles let out a shaky breath at the realisation, feeling all kinds of ridiculous for the sudden epiphany, but for once, not willing to settle for anything less. He felt whole in a way that he hadn't in years, ever since his mother's death, and Stiles just breathed in the world deeply.

"You okay, Zbee?" Derek asked, concerned and probably listening to his heartbeat.

"Yeah, actually, I am," Stiles said with a warm smile.

He took Derek's hand in his own, squeezing it gently. Derek smiled back at him, and it took them both a few seconds to realise that Ripley had returned with the tennis ball lodged firmly in her mouth. Derek wrestled the ball from her and threw it as hard as he could. Rip barked happily and ran after it immediately.

"Think you cleared the playground, Der. Rip's going to think you're her new best friend, and she's never going to leave you alone now," Stiles said, knowing that from experience. "Y'know, wherever that dog goes, I'm right there with her."

"I was planning on it, Zbee," Derek admitted, grinning as he tugged Stiles on to his lap.

Stiles grinned back at him and kissed Derek firmly. They didn't stop until Ripley returned, dropping the tennis ball and barking loudly, demanding their attention. Derek threw the ball again without a word of protest, and then pulled Zbigniew in for another kiss.

...

The end.

Thanks for reading!


End file.
